Jury clears NCAA of liability in ex-USC LB’s death
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday rejected a claim by the widow of a former USC football player who said the NCAA failed to protect him from repeated head trauma that led to his death.
Matthew Gee, a linebacker on the 1990 Rose Bowl-winning squad, endured an estimated 6,000 hits that caused permanent brain damage and led to cocaine and alcohol abuse that eventually killed him at age 49, lawyers for his widow alleged.
The NCAA said it had nothing to do with Gee’s death, which it said was caused by a sudden cardiac arrest brought on by untreated hypertension and acute cocaine toxicity. A lawyer for the governing body of U.S. college sports said Gee suffered from many other health problems not related to football, such as liver cirrhosis, that would have eventually killed him.
The verdict could have broad ramifications for college athletes who blame the NCAA for head injuries.
Hundreds of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits have been brought by college football players against the NCAA in the past decade, but Gee’s is the first one to reach a jury alleging that hits to the head led to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease known by its acronym, CTE.
“We are gratified that the jury, after considering four weeks of evidence and testimony, agreed overwhelmingly with our position in this case,” Scott Bearby, NCAA senior vice president of legal affairs and general counsel, said in a statement. “The NCAA bore no responsibility for Mr. Gee’s tragic death, and furthermore, the case was not supported by medical science linking Mr. Gee’s death to his college football career. We express our deepest sympathies to Mr. Gee’s family.”
The statement also said the organization “will continue to aggressively defend against cases like this that wrongly try to exploit the legal system to unfairly target the NCAA.”
Alana Gee had testified that the college sweethearts had 20 good years of marriage before her husband’s mental health began to deteriorate and he became angry, depressed and impulsive, and began overeating and abusing drugs and alcohol.
Attorneys for Gee said CTE, which is found in athletes and military veterans who suffered repetitive brain injuries, was an indirect cause of death because head trauma has been shown to promote substance abuse.
The NCAA said the case hinged on what it knew at the time Gee played, from 1988 to ’92, and not CTE, which was first discovered in the brain of a deceased NFL player in 2005.
Gee never reported having a concussion and said in an application to play with the Raiders after graduating that he had never been knocked unconscious, NCAA attorney Will Stute said.
“You can’t hold the NCAA responsible for something 40 years later that nobody ever reported,” Stute said in his closing argument. “The plaintiffs want you in a time travel machine. We don’t have one at the NCAA. It’s not fair.”
Attorneys for Gee’s family said there was no doubt that Matt Gee suffered concussions and countless sub-concussive blows.
Mike Salmon, a teammate who went on to play in the NFL, testified that Gee, who was team captain his senior year, once was so dazed from a hit that he couldn’t call the next play.
Gee was one of five linebackers on the 1989 Trojans squad who died before turning 50. All displayed signs of mental deterioration associated with head trauma.
As with teammate and NFL star Junior Seau, who killed himself in 2012, Gee’s brain was examined posthumously at Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center and found to have CTE.
Jurors were not allowed to hear testimony about Gee’s deceased teammates.
Alana Gee’s lawyers had argued that the NCAA, which was founded in 1906 for athlete safety, had known about impacts from head injuries since the 1930s but failed to educate players, ban headfirst contact or implement baseline testing for concussion symptoms.
Her lawyers had asked jurors to award $55 million to compensate for her loss.
Alana Gee had tears in her eyes and sniffled as the verdict was read. She told one of her lawyers that she didn’t understand how the jury came to that decision, and declined to comment afterward.
“We feel deep sympathy for the Gee family right off the bat,” Stute, the NCAA attorney, said afterward. “But we feel like this verdict is a vindication of the position we’ve taken in all these cases.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
PHOENIX — Ketel Marte is having one of the best seasons of his career on the field.
That hasn’t stopped a fair amount of criticism for the Arizona Diamondbacks slugger off of it.
The All-Star second baseman apologized through an interpreter Monday for missing three games following the All-Star break after flying back to his home in the Dominican Republic — a situation that has apparently been festering in the clubhouse over the past month.
The 31-year-old said he initially expected to return to Phoenix immediately following the break but was “frustrated” and “in a bad spot” after he learned his residence in Scottsdale, Arizona, had been burglarized during the break, according to the interpreter.
The D-backs were playing a crucial stretch of games — fighting for playoff position ahead of the July 31 trade deadline. Arizona placed Marte on the restricted list for the first two games of his absence and then he didn’t play a third game after returning to the club.
In response to criticisms that he takes too many games off, Marte said he has dealt with injury issues and is following a plan designed by the training staff. Marte has missed 33 games this year, the majority of which were because of a hamstring injury.
“I know there’s an elephant in the room and I’ll just say what I want to say about it,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “I know that Ketel talked to you guys and I’m proud of him for doing that. That’s not easy for him to do. I know he showed some vulnerability and I’m really proud of him for digging in the way that he did.
“What I’ll say about Ketel are the things that I know — he’s a great teammate, he’s a great young man, he plays hard every single day for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He just wants to win baseball games. That’s it.”
Marte has dealt with a torrent of criticism after a report in the Arizona Republic last week said that some teammates were frustrated with the second baseman’s behavior over the past month and that his absence after the All-Star break might have partially caused the team’s collapse before the trade deadline.
The D-backs came into the season with high expectations but are 60-65.
Arizona won the three games Marte missed after the All-Star break — sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals — but then lost nine of 10 when he returned to the lineup.
That affected the organization’s approach at the trade deadline. The Diamondbacks sent third baseman Eugenio Suárez and first baseman Josh Naylor to the Seattle Mariners in separate deals, outfielder Randal Grichuk to the Kansas City Royals and right-hander Merrill Kelly to the Texas Rangers.
Marte is having a terrific all-around offensive season, batting .297 with 23 homers and 56 RBIs. The three-time All-Star has been with the organization since 2017 and was key to the team’s unexpected run to the World Series in 2023.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Seattle Mariners outfielder Victor Robles was ejected from a minor league game during a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma on Sunday after he was nearly hit by an inside pitch and tossed his bat at the pitcher.
Las Vegas starter Joey Estes’ first pitch to Robles in the third inning was inside and Robles whacked at it to avoid getting hit.
After taking a few steps behind the plate and dropping his bat, Robles picked up the bat and threw it in Estes’ direction and was immediately ejected from the game by plate umpire Joe McCarthy.
Robles, who was hit by a pitch three times in his previous four games with Tacoma, took some steps toward the mound while yelling at the pitcher but was held back by McCarthy and Las Vegas teammates.
After going into the dugout, Robles threw a box of snacks toward the field before heading to the clubhouse.
He took to social media later to apologize for letting his frustration get the best of him.
“Coming off a long rehab and being away from the game for most of the season has been physically and mentally challenging,” Robles said in his Instagram story. “Adding to that, the recent passing of my mother has been incredibly hard, and I’ve been doing my best to hold it together. That’s not an excuse, but some context I feel you deserve to understand where I’m coming from.”
He added, “Getting hit 5 times in 15 at-bats added to that pressure, and I reacted in a way I’m not proud of. This game means the world to me, and so do the people who play it. I respect every one of you, not just as a player, but as a teammate and competitor.”
Robles is rehabbing a dislocated left shoulder he suffered in April.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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